This year, we mark 30 years of the Guardian Student Media awards, roughly the period in which I managed to transform myself from wannabe student journalist into a fully employed broadcaster. In that time the journalistic landscape has changed beyond recognition. Thirty years ago, if television were your ultimate aim - as mine was - there were only three channels to aim for (two of them the BBC's). Print was in a more robust state in terms of revenues and circulation. But both were to be revolutionised in the next three decades, with technology the midwife of that change. And, of course, any prescient techno-bore forecasting today's online world back in the late 70s would have been regarded as suffering from strange delusions.

Routes into journalism then were extremely limited. Mine was fairly formal. A broadcasting module within my history degree, followed by some pretty abortive attempts at freelancing, lit up by the rare triumph of selling a piece to the diary editor of the mighty Guardian - a certain Mr A Rusbridger at the time I believe, who I'm not sure ever paid me the promised tenner. Just when I was considering jacking it in and getting a "proper" job I was lucky enough to be accepted on to the City University postgraduate journalism course. Providing me with a developing nose for a story and some practical skills, that led to my first full-time employment as a trainee reporter on the Coventry Evening Telegraph. I rapidly managed to effect my dreamed-of crossover into TV because my acquisition of the basic journalistic skills coincided with rapid expansion of the fledgling Channel 4, which offered an alternative route. Before that it had either been the old-boy network or the BBC training scheme. I've now worked for all the UK's major broadcasting organisations, and one simple fact stands out as the difference between now and then. Being good at seeking out stories is not enough any more. You have to intimately comprehend the precise requirements of your chosen medium - particularly in terms of the audience you are addressing. And that fundamentally influences how you express the story. At Sky News, the mantra of being first for breaking news guides our output - but in what form that news is broken informs the coverage. People no longer absorb news solely from the traditional sources, newspapers or television or radio bulletins at predetermined times.

Sure, the demands of the new forms of delivery put more pressures on journalists. But they also offer more opportunities. Look at my own feeble efforts to break into print 25 years ago - relying on a time-pressured Alan Rusbridger to take my call. There was nowhere else to publish my "scoop" (whatever it was). Now there's nothing to prevent you breaking your story online yourself, whether it's print or video. But to break through, those journalistic rules will always apply: the story has to be good, and well told. No one's going to take your blog seriously if it's a tissue of unsourced, irrelevant witterings.

But the possibilities are almost endless. Take the recent success of the undercover reporter in the United States who obtained a job in a slaughterhouse in California and blew the lid on some of the shocking practices he uncovered by publishing his video on the web. It sparked corrective action and a nationwide debate in the US about the humane treatment of animals. Why was it so effective? Of course, it was because the core story was so powerful. But also because it was well-edited and could easily be accessed and given wider currency by the mainstream media.

So the story always comes first. Throw in some traditional practical skills if you can - basics such as fast, accurate typing, for instance, never go amiss. And don't forget a thorough knowledge of the legal constraints, as just because you're aiming at cyberspace doesn't mean the libel or contempt laws don't apply. But also get your head around the technology. A good place to start would be by winning the Student Broadcast Journalist of the Year award - it's sponsored by Sky News and leads to a six-week placement there. Which reminds me: I really must practise what I preach and sign up for that desktop editing course.